Underground installations of cables for telephone, electrical and other services is common. Installing such cables includes the laying of the cable in a trench or conduit from the source and then making the necessary connections, junctions, etc. to provide the service to individual homes and/or structures. Oftentimes, such installations require the splicing of cables having an exterior protective sheathing of a resilient material such as a plastic, about an aluminum inner sheathing, having contained therein, one or a plurality of individual lengths of wire. Typically, cables utilized in providing telephone services may carry 50, 100, 200 and even up to 600 or more, inner lines or wires within the outer protective sheathing.
Once the outer protective sheathing is broken, for example, when one or more of the inner wires is spliced, the opening in the protective sheathing subjects the inner wires to potential damage from water, moisture, or other elements. Although prior attempts have been made to seal splices in underground wires, these methods have not achieved the desired results.
There has therefore been a long felt need for a method and apparatus to effectively seal cable splices used in telecommunications and other wiring systems.